Lobbyist Dan Walsh on Virginia iGaming Prospects, Post-election
From Dan: As you may recall, John and I had started some conversations with the leading gaming legislators in Virginia about the possibility of iGaming in the state. We had even talked with Del. Krizek who chairs the ABC/Gaming subcommittee about the possibility of a hearing or informational briefing for the members of the subcommittee on how iGaming would work in Virginia and the revenue it might yield.
Tuesday’s election has probably de-railed those discussions. With the Republicans having re-taken the House of Delegates (which seems almost certain at this point) those plans are obviously off — Krizek will not be the Chairman in the next session. Todd Gilbert, my local delegate with whom I’m friendly, is likely to be the new Speaker of the House, and he opposed the casino and sports betting bills when they passed under the Democrats. I think the prospects for iGaming in Virginia under a Republican Governor and a Republican House of Delegates are very small.
The one thing I will say is that Governor-elect Youngkin has promised the state “the largest education budget in its history” and he probably won’t want to raise taxes to do it. There might be a conversation to be had with Youngkin’s people about it as a way to raise revenue without raising taxes — we will see on that. But I wouldn’t bet on Virginia as an iGaming market in the near future.